My Inaugural Letter To President Obama

It is my duty, just as it is yours, to inform elected officials on how our country should be. For if your voice isn't loud enough, we will all fail and fall into Fascism or Socialism or any number of "isms" where The People lose their rights and The People's governments or corporations will crush everything we hold dear.

You are a citizen of your country and of the world. If you do not make your voice heard you have failed your citizenship test and deserve what you get.

Do not just read what I have written! Pick up a qwerty, a telephone, a pen, a podium - ANYTHING - make your voice heard, tell your Senator, your Representative, your President - tell EVERYONE that you believe in fairness. DO NOT listen to the nay-sayers who claim your voice is not important - they only say that because without your voice their voice holds more power. LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD! Do not sit quietly and allow those in power to control you because they are not your leaders - they are your employees! You are the leaders of our country and our world!

Politics isn't for politicians, politics is for The People. Politicians are just there to carry out the will of The People!

Vox Populi!

This was my first, my inaugural, letter to President Obama. This is the full text minus some personal information. After this post I will only post excerpts from all my other letters.

                                                                 Peter Lawrence

                                                                 PO Box [redacted]

                                                                 [redacted]

President Barack Obama

White House Residence

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue

Washington, DC 20500

1/20-22/09

Dear Mr. President,

At first I wrote out an eight-page letter because the processed word appears homogenized when a hand written word is more personal and can show depth, intent and emotion. Then I thought that you being so hi-tech would more appreciate a letter without being assaulted by my horrible handwriting.

I was indescribably happy today when I watched as you took the oath of office. You are indeed a beautiful speaker and your words hold me in my heart to what can be. For the last ten years I've thought of and quietly repeated that oath to myself, as well as the oath taken by congress, to understand their meanings. With every motion by congresses, representatives and administrations I stood motionless to see how those actions held up to those oaths. I have found this more and more difficult.

In hearing you speak over the past few months I have felt your concern over losing your connection with The People. I am only one common man with one voice but among my peers I am able to discern what most feel. Their passions and struggles and hopes are also mine. I pray my letter really does find its way to you so that I may share the thoughts of The People who are around me everyday. There is a great cross section that I am able to claim as my friends and acquaintances. They are of all colors and many religions or no religion. They are remarkably rich (compaired to me), unbelievably poor, struggling and even middle class. One 60 plus year old who lives in her van because taking an apartment in Los Angeles would force her to go without food, another who lives in the park in an actual tree, union workers who worry about the future of their finances, artists who sacrifice a comfortable living for their passion, business owners like me who have felt the hard hits of the economic downturn, famous actors and struggling actors, teachers, waitresses, salesmen, resident non-citizens and the occasional politician - even a few Republicans. I hope this will not be my only letter but with my own busy life it will be difficult to find time. My intent will be to keep you in touch with at least one person outside of a most impenetrable circle.

One thing that we can all agree on is the enormous task ahead of you. We all want to move forward and return our country to where it was. It seems odd to say we want to go backward so we can go forward but that is essentially the hope - To back out of the direction we've been going so that we may continue on our original path. We almost all agree that fear cannot hinder our decisions and that without the full restoration of our Constitution the terrorists have truly won. We also hope that we do NOT repeat our past and we are all aware that without knowing the past we are doomed to relive it - as we already have. Our last eight years are the result of past-unchecked administrations. Those who were in those past administrations, or have learned how to operate as they did, have damaged our country in more ways than I could write in a single reasonably sized letter. We want it to stop happening so we can truly move on. Personally, I do not fear outside terrorism. All my fears are of inside corruption and corporatism that latches on to Fascism or Fascism corrupted even worse by Theocracy, either of which could take my country from me. I am greedy in wanting a country that has its roots deeply entrenched in fairness. In the past several years I've watched, horrified, as the 14 points of Fascism appeared. I've screamed, "How can this be happening"? But I felt that no one could or would hear my voice.

I really cried when I remembered how, 30 years ago, we promised each other never to allow another Vietnam and yet we did. I cried more when I saw what would be. These soldiers returning will face the same challenges. I remember it well when my own cousin, [redacted], who couldn't live with his nightmares and used a bullet to end his life several years after we were out of Vietnam. I felt he was killed in Vietnam but it took him about six years to die. But the wars in the Middle East are almost dwarfed by the mounting domestic and worldwide problems. I hope you'll do the right thing but I know "to do the right thing" you'll need as much input, both support and dissent, as possible.

The damage done by 43 to The People is incalculable. However, he was the best president ever, for corporations. Many refer to him as the new Hoover president but I know my history too well and would more likely compare him to Harding and Coolidge. Harding and Coolidge did the damage and Hoover didn't do enough to fix the damage. I think you would find that you would be closer to Hoover for comparison. That is, if you aren't able to do enough to fix what's been done to us in the last 14 years - Arguably, what's been done to The People Since the dawning of Reaganomics.

The most important issue to those who I speak with is restoration of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, and accountability for those who violated them. We remember Watergate and we know that some involved were not prosecuted and moved on to the Iran Hostage incident and Iran-Contra, then finally the Bush administration. Each time they gained more power, more influence and more people to help them. Most believe it was because there was never any accountability and that the Unitary Executive polices himself. All those past presidents decided it was better to move on instead of investigating thereby giving power to those who corrupt. We feel that you don't need to waste time with this but a special prosecutor and investigator would not be wasting time. If we should decide to move on without an investigation then those who contributed to this mess will know they can get away with it in the future and those who learned how to get away with it will end up in office once more so that they can do more wrong and more harm. There should also be a treason investigation for outing a CIA operative during a time of war in violation of 2381. That, Mr. President, is giving aid to the enemy and whosoever was involved should get the appropriate punishment under 2381. There are plenty of other treasons to go around and I hope you'll look just as closely at the Democratic Party as you do the Republican. Of the treason laws, 2381, 82, 83, 84, 87 and 2388 were all violated on more than one occasion, and at times, by more than one individual. Arguably, 2386 for BH20 [thoroughly Middle East entrenched security corporation-redacted-but I'll call BH20] since they are based partially in the US and get foreign aid. Look specifically at 2382 of the treason laws and see who should have done something when they had knowledge but did not. Those in Congress who did NOT act under 2382 are just as guilty as those who committed other treasons.

One of the most harmful changes in the last fourteen years was NAFTA. Something needs to be done; we hope it will be revised. We all know now that it was created for corporations at the expense of The People. My suggestion would be that any manufacturer that sells product in the US must have a certain percentage of manufacturing in the US. Not just assembly! MANUFACTURING! Changing that block of wood into an axe handle, not just inserting the axe handle into the axe head. The value of our economy is in our work force and the value of our work force is in changing raw materials into something usable. Manufacturing is also vital to our national defense in that the US should be able to get things made here when in need.

Another most harmful was the bankruptcy changes in the law for individuals. Judges no longer have leeway to decide what would be best for the individual - the law forbids it. There should be an immediate change and the change should include accountability for the banking and credit card company's "Rainmaker" ways of handling customers. They are allowed to deceive The People how they see fit. One of the problems is that corporations have the same rights as the individual but I guess we both know what an uphill battle that would be. Imagine being identified as an "individual with rights" by the Constitution but being required by the law not to have a heart - to cater to your bottom line. Then add to that you can live forever and will never be put in jail. That is a corporation.

It's wonderful and amazing that every time I write a page, you change something else that needed attention. So I should now thank you for your first full day. A pay freeze was nice but congress received an automatic pay increase early this year that they should have removed if they had any sense of decency. The new ethics for lobbyists are great but I would also hope to expand those to congress though I'm not sure you have the power to do that other than through suggestion. Also, thank you for beginning to fix the detainee issue. That was a good first step to restore our Constitution. The openness in government thing was a great relief from the previous administration. Now if you can get a list of those documents that were unclassified before the last administration but reclassified after it began. Dick Cheney decided they hundreds of pages of old documents should be classified for some odd reason though they were either unclassified or never classified before he held the office. I'd love to know what he thought was so important to classify or reclassify. The economic daily briefing is a great idea. As far as the TARP is concerned, I would first make sure all corporations who are allowed to participate are still US based instead of "US in name only" - Like those who have tax shields in other countries. It's beneficial for no one to support former US corporations that don't support us with taxes.

There is one last, very important, issue I hope you'll allow me to address. Since 9/11 the administration has been claiming that their number one job was to protect The People of the United States. I find this horrifying. When a president takes his oath he states that he will protect one thing only - The Constitution. That is not to say that he shouldn't also protect The People but saying it is the number one job or the first duty sets a dangerous precedent. I know we would all appreciate public statements about security if they began, "After protecting The Constitution the presidents number one job is protecting The People governed under The Constitution". Those number two jobs will change throughout your administration but there is only one number one job - Your first duty to The Constitution.

Thank you again for your first day. I really do appreciate your conviction.

Please, Mr. President, I only want to help. As I said, I am only one man with one voice. I hope you will hear me now and with my future letters.

Very Sincerely yours,

Peter Lawrence